I really hate the 300C. In my opinion, it's one of the ugliest cars released in recent memory.

 

I jusy saw a Malibu MAXX yesterday on the road, now that thing is freaking hideous, and I'm usually not one to be overly critical of looks. We're talking Pontiac Aztec ugly, what the hell were the Chevy designers thinking with that one.

 

and supposely the Malibu is a strong seller

 

Affordable is the word.

 

Is the 300 C a good car? It sure looks the part. Good for you Chrysler. Keep up the good work .

 

The automotive press likes it, the review C&D did was quite favorable.

 

Never heard of a MAXX until you mentioned it.

From this pic, I don't think it's any worse than a Subaru

 

From a design stand-point , Chevy improved itself on what it used to be a PLAIN vanilla Malibu. However, I think its still far from Subaru...far far from it. Look at Subaru again, they have changed a lot in details -which is where they were missing it before. The only Subi that still looks odd to me is the Baja.

 

I wasn't trying to say it was a subaru, what I was saying was it looked similar to a subaru from outside - it's not eye catching, but it's not anywhere close to Aztec ugly either.

The rear looks like it's missing something though.

 

That pic is VERY deceiving, it actually looks kind of nice in that pic, see one in person and you'll know what I mean.

 

In person, the malibu wagon catches your eye because you can't believe you just saw such a stupid looking car.

 

too true! i was thinking from pics i had seen that it was a nice looking car. then i saw it in person. worse than an Aztec in my opinion. but then i am on record here saying i dont mind the Aztec.

 

Looks can be deceiving my friend, Its packin' a Hemi and it is no slouch. I agree with you on the looks, but to me it looks little like Bentley and more like musclecar. Especially when viewed from the rear. Just my 2 cents.

 

My wife and I were having a conversation about the 300 yesterday. I commented on how many I've seen since its launch as compared to the RX-8.

We just got back from the shore, and during the whole trip, other than my own 8, I saw only three others. One on the way to the shore, and two coming back. During that same trip, I saw more than a dozen 300s (and three Chevy SSRs). Two of my neighbors just bought 300s. Pretty soon I'm going to be surrounded.

Don't get me wrong, I dig the look of the 300. Kinda like something from Batman: The Animated Series. But they are beginning to pop-up everywhere.

I still only see a couple of 8s a week, which makes it still unique in my book. The 300 not so much.

 

I think it's great that we're starting to see cars of all types looking good. They don't have to be a high end sports car to have a unique and stylish design.

While there are failures that make me want to puke (Aztec), I think most are successful.

 

I like the 300C. a fully loaded hemi will run about $36,000. Motor Trend timed it at 5.6 sec from 0-60. and said it handled surprisingly well for such a heavy (4000 lb) car. They list it as a luxury sedan but maybe it should be listed as a sports sedan since it outperforms most. As for reliability only time will tell but it has a lot of Mercedes parts and design influence put into it.

 

Mercedes reliability has nosed dived in recent years

 

Exactly what I meant! great quality but so so reliability.

 

Looks like a brick on wheels to me! Just one man's opinion. :P

 

The thing is, even the less reliable cars on the market today are pretty damn reliable compared to 10 or 15 years ago. It seems to get something really unreliable nowadays you almost have to go out of your way to do so. Buying used cars is a whole other story since it seems the slightly less reliable vehicles on the road really start to show the problems as they inch towards 100k miles.

My dad had an interpid for about 80k miles it was pretty damn reliable to that point, but when he traded it in it was going to need a decent amount of work on the A/C and a few other minor problems.

 

I definitely see more of these than I do RX8's but I like them and would much prefer seeing another 300C instead of another bland looking camry/taurus/accord.

 

Yup. If anyone is interested here is a JD Power VDS for the year 2003. This is a long term study, not the first six months of ownership. Bad news for all of those GM haters and some German lovers.

 

VW was on such a roll, it's amazing how much they have slipped in terms of sales and overall quality ratings.

In the first graph is it safe to assume Mazda is grouped with Ford?

 

Wow, I'd like to know what that opinion is based on. According to all the quality surveys (both initial quality and long-term reliability), Chrysler lags behind both GM and Ford. I'm guessing you had some bad personal experiences with GM and Ford?

I also think your comment about Chrysler's "styling and raw power" is a bit oversimplified. I'll take the Ford GT over any car out there, period. Most people love the styling and power available in the Corvette and new Mustang as well. And just wait for the next Cobra... then we'll talk about raw power.

It is the opinion of many people in the auto industry that Chrysler is playing a risky game by putting out very bold vehicles in terms of styling, but making very few engineering improvements. These are the same old Chryslers underneath their new flashy skins. It will be interesting to see what happens.

 

What exactly are Chrysler's other hits?